Obama’s ‘Arab Problem’ – Opinion – Al Jazeera English

This brilliant article from Al Jazeera English stirs things in me. Enormous anger at the GOP, how in the name of all that is holy can they continue their racist diatribes against Muslims and Islam? I am not Islamic by faith but have learned a great deal since 9/11 about the Middle East in general and the “Arab World” in particular and my respect for them and their world and culture has grown enormously. I have realized among other things that the US is directly to blame for a great deal of the continued hostility in the Middle East and I am more convinced that Israel is an Apartheid State and that Palestine, while not entirely innocent in all of this either, is a land that simply must be freed!

I was pleased when the Obama administration admonished Netanyahu shortly after the fall of Mubarak, telling him in what seemed no uncertain terms that they wanted Israel to return to the 1967 borders. I wish they had meant it. Or at least if they did, then I have to say that I think they are going about proving their point in a very odd way. Wouldn’t you think, as I did, that if they meant it, they would support the Palestinian move for statehood? But no, here they are smack in Israels corner yet again.

Even in his so-called support for the “Arab Spring” Obama has been strong in his pursuit of the status quo, including of course unfettered access to the oil, which makes him seem like a huge hypocrite in my view. Remember that both Obama and Biden, when asked if they viewed Mubarak as a dictator responded negatively, saying that he couldn’t be a dictator due only to the fact that he was an ally of the US. (1930s Germany was an ally too, Mr. President.)

I can’t help but wonder how Obama plans on gaining peace with the new governments of the Arab nations while continuing to support the apartheid in Palestine and the Gaza Strip. He has almost no credibility there at all and it’s going to take more than his strong skills as an orator to eliminate all the years of American imperialism. America’s track record of selling arms to dictators contains such luminaries as Noriega, Duvalier, Botha, Mubarak, Gaddafi, Hussein, Khalifat, the Taliban and many more, and are still supporting many of them. If Obama wants to earn that Noble Peace Prize he got so prematurely, then stopping that is a good place to start!

But having said all that, I should get back to the topic at hand. The Grand Old Nitwit Party has been having a field day with Obama and his last name since he first announced his candidacy for President. Now, since he’s been bombing the hell out of Afghanistan and Iraq, they seem to feel that perhaps that card has been played out and are now trying to blame the Arab Spring, which they see as a major threat, on him and to claim it is a failure and that he is responsible!! Gimme some of those drugs guys!! These are two quotes from the article:

Just last week, another Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, pronounced the Arab Spring to be the result of the Obama foreign policy‘s “grotesque failure”. Gingrich went so far as to call it an “anti-Christian spring”, apparently believing that longstanding authoritarian rule was the only thing protecting religious minorities in the Arab world from unbridled persecution.”

(Now, of course no one with half a brain takes either Bachman or Gingrich seriously, but as long as we have the wonder known as Fox News you can’t entirely discount them as the fools they are either. As disgusting as it sounds, Americans still listen to Fox News in droves.)

Anyway, dear reader, back to Dear Old Newt, One important thing is missing in all of his inane rhetoric, the truth, and as usual with him it’s what he never quite seems to figure out. In this instance what he can’t connect with is the heart of the brave people of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Iran, and the entire Arab Spring movement. They were the ones who were so desperate for freedom they fearlessly faced bullets, bombs, dictators and the armies they commanded, and in some countries still do, and DEMANDED their freedom. Obama, even with his flowery tributes and pledge of 100 million US Dollars can’t take that away. Newt and his GOP fools would love to!

2 Responses

The mollification of America seemed complete long ago…the danger of histrionics passed on as history before being vetted is a train that has long ago left the station…the main crux of your well-written and compassionate blog article for me is the danger of using Christendom to underpin Americans into become corporate shields…Huxley’s concept of our brains being “a reducing valve” is ripe for manipulation when we are starving physically and spiritually…thanks for the points raised Dan…namaste Edward

Very true! MacLuhan said the medium is the message and the message is the medium, fox news is the medium for the GOP and their message is fear. Fear elected Dubya twice, allowed the mortgage on the American Soul and held that once great country hostage. A country built on religious expatriates, i.e. the pilgrims, has completely forgotten what freedom is, selling it out for a false sense of security.